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For the past 15 years, we've marked the end of the Big Ten basketball season by surveying those who know it best. This time, we turned to the experts in shorts and hightops: little-known reserves who share the same locker room with the stars.

Tyler Griffey, Illinois

MVP: Demetri McCamey. We roll with him. He's our point guard, our leader and we go as he goes.

Best dunker: If you're talking power and ferociousness it's Jereme (Richmond). But as far as style and skill it's Joe (Bertrand). He comes on from the right wing and he'll bounce it and make it go on the left side of the basket and he'll wrap it around with his right hand. It looks funky but it's cool looking.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Probably Meyers (Leonard). He's always talking and he's like a little kid out here. He loves to have fun.

Meaner than Bob Knight: Jereme. If you get a rise out of him, he brings his game up to a whole other level. It's just the dominant personality that he has.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Me, for sure. I don't think I can take him down, but it would absolutely be me.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): Bill (Cole). He's kind of an abstract thinker and he's majoring in some kind of business or something so he's the guy.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): I'm gonna say me again. I'm a kinesiology major and I want to train athletes, high school guys and maybe some of these guys when they're in the NBA. At my pinnacle I would be like Tim Grover, Michael Jordan's trainer.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Coach (Jerrance) Howard. He's a freestyler, he's all right. He's kind of funny with it.

City the Illini most like to visit: I like the big cities around here: Indianapolis, Chicago and St. Louis. I like St. Louis and playing Mizzou in the rivalry games. Chicago, playing at the United Center is something.

Team needs concert tickets to: A lot of the guys went to Jay-Z last year when he came to Assembly Hall and Wiz Khalifa is coming in a month or so and a lot of us are going. I'm not too big on rap, but I can enjoy a concert for sure.

 

Maurice Creek, Indiana

MVP: Jordan Hulls

Best dunker: Victor Oladipo

Meaner than Bob Knight: Jeremiah Rivers

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Derek Elston

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Jordan Hulls

The Next Barack Obama (politician): Victor Oladipo

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Will Sheehey

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Victor Oladipo

Something we don't know about coach Crean: He's an unbelievable father and family man.

City the Hoosiers most like to visit: Chicago/Evanston

Team needs concert tickets to: Lil' Wayne

Best moment this season so far: The Michigan win

Devon Archie, Iowa

MVP: I give it to Jarryd (Cole). He's the one when you're down, you can go to talk to. I give it to him.

Best dunker: I'll probably say Eric May.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Melsahn Basabe. He's always talking.

Meaner than Bob Knight: Branden Stubbs. He's a walk-on.

The next Barack Obama (politician): Cody Cox.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Hopefully me.

The best Lil Wayne (singer/rapper): Probably Roy Marble. Him and Basabe rap together.

Something we don't know about coach McCaffery: He's goofy. He jokes around. On TV he's real intense. But when you know him, he's a real jokester.

City the Hawkeyes most like to visit: Minneapolis. I think it's a nice city. It's cold. That's the only bad thing.

Team needs concert tickets to: Big Sean is coming up. I'll probably go see him.

Best moment this season: Beating Purdue. Fans storming the court. That's something I always wanted to do. And we got it.

Josh Bartelstein, Michigan

MVP: Darius Morris had a great year. We ran a lot of our offensive stuff through him and he's been solid.

Best dunker: It's between Tim Hardaway and Colton Christian. Although last year Zack Novak won the dunk contest at Midnight Madness. He said he won't dunk ever again, though, he wants to go out on top. Right now I'm taking Tim Hardaway. He just elevates out of nowhere, he takes off. Make sure you're not standing under the rim because he's gonna dunk on you whenever possible.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: That's easy, Matt Vogrich will talk your ear off. You're never sure what he's saying, but you turn around and Matt's talking to someone.

Meaner than Bob Knight: Zack Novak, for sure. Whether it's playing basketball or playing Monopoly. We had a team Monopoly tournament and he got mad that someone gave me a good card and I ended up winning. He was furious and we put the game on hold because he was so mad.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Novak gets that, too. When he's on, like against Michigan State at Michigan State, you could have a hand in his face or whatever, it was going in. I'm taking my teammate over Ray Allen. Even though he's hit his fair share, I'm going with the Michigan guy.

The next Barack Obama (politician): Colton Christian because I can't think of anyone who doesn't like him. He's just a really good guy.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Jordan Morgan. He's in the engineering school here. He's a really smart guy.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Darius and Jordan have made a rap before. Evan (Smotrycz) thinks he can rap but Darius and Jordan came up with a couple of good ones last year. They haven't come out with the remix yet.

Something we don't know about coach Beilein: He has a name for everything. Like with plays, it's not like "Blue 1" or "Blue 2." It has to have a name. Zack Novak is really good at cutting to the left, so he'll just call it "Novak Left." All the plays are after what the players are good at.

City the Wolverines most like to visit: We haven't been anywhere warm since I've been here, but (Evanston) because we stay at a nice hotel there and it's near Chicago and my family's there.

Team needs concert tickets to: Maybe like a Kanye West concert. We listen to him a lot in the locker room. There's definitely a division on what to listen to in the locker room. Novak wants the country and Darius and Jordan like the rap. We usually meet halfway.

 

Austin Thornton, Michigan State

MVP: Kalin (Lucas). He's done a phenomenal job this year. He's really put us on his back the second half of the season.

Best dunker: Durrell (Summers) and (Adreian Payne) are pretty phenomenal athletes. Whoever comes up with the coolest dunk that day would be the winner.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Day Day (Draymond Green), no question about it. He loves to talk. It's always entertaining, he's just extremely talkative.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Myself. As a shooter you always have to pick yourself. We've got some pretty good shooters but I'd be hard-pressed not to say myself.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): We've got a couple. Day Day. (Derrick) Nix would be a good one, and I've actually thought about looking into politics when I get older.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Mike Kebler. He's just extremely smart and he's got good people skills, and he's a finance major so he's always gonna have a job.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Guys think they can sing but they're not very good. Kalin does a lot, but he cannot sing. It's entertaining, though. Day Day is one of those guys, too.

Something we don't know about coach Izzo: There's an umpteen amount of things. I'll let you guys wonder about it.

City the Spartans most like to visit: This year was New York. I had never been to New York so that was neat. In the Big Ten, I love going to Indiana.

Team needs concert tickets to: I'm sure some hip-hop singer or rapper.

 

Maverick Ahanmisi, Minnesota

MVP: Blake (Hoffarber). Him transitioning to the point from being a shooter, someone who scores, that's not easy for someone to step in that role. He's that kind of teammate. If you asked him to play the 5, I bet he would do it.

Best dunker: Rodney Williams, hands down. He's got a lot of them. One game he went baseline and dunked on a guy with two hands. Man, I got so hyped after that one.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Austin Hollins for sure. Once he starts going, you can't get him to stop talking. He's always just making some kind of noise to keep himself entertained.

Meaner than Bob Knight: Probably Trevor (Mbakwe). One day in practice he got hit in the mouth and the next person to come off his screen went to the floor. He gets mad and you know to stay away from him.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Blake, definitely. Once he gets going, he's deadly.

Next Barack Obama (politician): Either Blake or Chris (Halvorsen). They both work real hard in school and they just know so much stuff. You'll ask them a question and just wonder how they know this stuff.

Next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Either Chris or Blake. They're going to be OK because they just know so much stuff.

Next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Austin. He sings all the time, I mean all the time. Chip (Armelin) can sing, too, but Austin is just goofy and funny.

Something people don't know about coach Smith: He's a pretty funny guy in the locker room when he wants to be. He's actually a funny guy.

City the Gophers most like to visit: Probably (Columbus, Ohio). The atmosphere there is nice and their gym is just amazing. The hotel we stay in, there's a lot of stuff around it and there's a lot of stuff to do.

Team needs concert tickets to: We all just went to a Kid Cudi concert over here recently and that was pretty fun.

Best moment this season so far: Just overcoming adversity and having fun. Before the season started, the Canada trip, we just all bonded and that's where the chemistry and everything started. We got to know one another.

Mike Capocci, Northwestern

MVP: Juice Thompson. He's been a tremendous leader this year and he's been great on the court and off the court and is a huge reason for the success of our team.

Best dunker: (John) Shurna. When he gets one down the place goes nuts. He's fun to watch. Drew (Crawford) is a great dunker as well.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Juice Thompson always has something to say, always has an opinion about something. Usually it's pretty funny.

Meaner than Bob Knight: I don't think we have any guys like that, to be honest. Everyone gets along pretty well.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Shurna, he's lights out. He's close to leading the country in three-point percentage and he's been stroking it all year for us. I've seen him in practice and shooting around and sometimes he doesn't miss for a while. It's a little unorthodox, but it goes in and that's all that matters.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): I could see Nick Fruendt. He's a studious guy, very intelligent. He sticks to his guns.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Austin Nichols, he's gonna be a doctor so he'll get some cash over the years. Davide Curletti is going into film, so maybe he'll hit it big in producing a blockbuster movie, he could see some cash. Nick is pretty ambitious and I think he's got some plans to enter the business world.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Drew Crawford, he's got a rap alias, he calls himself Young Doo Doo. One of our managers, we say he's one of the top 10 Jewish rappers at Northwestern. I haven't heard his stuff, but Drew is pretty good.

Something we don't know about coach Carmody: He's got some good one-liner jokes. He always likes to tell jokes at dinner. He'll tell at least one joke and usually it's pretty good. His sense of humor doesn't come across when we're playing, but he's pretty witty.

City the Wildcats most like to visit: I'd say Florence, Italy. We took a trip there in August and all the guys would say that's the best.

Team needs concert tickets to: I'd have to ask Juice because he's the music guy. He's always talking to guys in the music business in Chicago. Probably a rap concert, that would probably hit most guys' genres. We might not get Davide out, though. He'd be adamant about not going.

Best moment this season so far: Probably Senior Night, the last official Big Ten home game, that was a big moment. Ending my Welsh-Ryan career with a win was pretty cool.

Lenzelle Smith, Ohio State

MVP: I really can't choose one guy. It's so well-balanced and we play so well together so I'd have to say the team.

Best dunker: It's either me, David Lighty, Dallas Lauderdale.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Me. I just try to keep everybody motivated, keep them together. I try to keep guys up.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Jon Diebler. It would be a tough match, but he definitely has a chance.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): Aaron Craft, he's like the perfect person.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Dallas Lauderdale. He's a character. Whatever he chooses to do he's going to be successful. He has a way of making people laugh.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Dallas. He can carry a note here and there.

Something we don't know about coach Matta: What you see of him on TV and in press conferences is who he is with us and behind closed doors.

City the Buckeyes most like to visit: This is my first go around so everywhere we went was great to me.

Team needs concert tickets to: Definitely a Young Money concert. Lil' Wayne and the gang.

Best moment this season so far: Winning the Big Ten. That was our first goal.

Cammeron Woodyard, Penn State

MVP: Jeff Brooks. He brings it with scoring and defending and all the stuff on the court, but he's just a good leader. He does all the things that a coach would ask.

Best dunker: I'll have to go with the freshman Tre Bowman. He has the between the legs with the right hand or the left. He can take it off the backboard like LeBron. He's got a lot of them.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Talor Battle. He's real loud and he talks about any and everything.

Meaner than Bob Knight: We don't really have one, but if I had to choose I'd say Jermaine Marshall. He doesn't forget things. If something happens, he's going to get his revenge. He can hold a grudge.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: I'd have to say myself. It doesn't really show in the games, but I can shoot. I wouldn't say I can beat Ray Allen, but I'm working to get there.

The next Barack Obama (politician): Jon Graham. I just feel like he knows a lot about politics and he strikes me as a guy who would be good at that.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Billy Oliver. The kid is smart as ever and I think he's an accounting major or something like that. He's gonna make a lot of money.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Drew Jones. He did a thing for the Big Ten Network a few years ago when we went to Canada in front of the camera. He can actually sing a little bit. A few of us can rap just messing around. Me, Drew, sometimes Jermaine and Talor, but just messing around.

Something we don't know about coach DeChellis: I don't really have anything on Coach.

City the Nittany Lions most like to visit: If we had time to do stuff, probably Minneapolis. We've got guys who would like to go to the Mall of America if we had time to go out and enjoy the city.

Team needs concert tickets to: Lil' Wayne. He's coming here at the end of the month and we all bought tickets to go to that one.

Best moment this season so far: We took Wisconsin down here at home and we had a pretty big crowd for that one. That was the biggest crowd in a while.

Patrick Bade, Purdue

MVP: I'm gonna have to go with JaJuan Johnson. He's just been outstanding, Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, he's just racking it up this year.

Best dunker: JaJuan. He's super athletic, he's got a good vertical. That's a pretty good combination right there.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Definitely Anthony Johnson. It's hard to explain, him and Terone (Johnson). They just say worthless stuff all the time. They talk on the court, off the court and I just don't understand that.

Meaner than Bob Knight: Probably Ryne Smith. He's got a pretty quick temper sometimes, but for the most part he's a great guy.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: Definitely Ryne Smith. Our walk-on Drew Anthrop, he's got a pretty good shot.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): If you had to go off a guy with arguments about anything it's Lewis Jackson. He's very convincing. He always has a pretty good opinion about stuff, he's really insightful.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): I'd have to go with Bubba Day. He's just a hard worker and does everything the right way. He doesn't like to take shortcuts.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Lewis is probably the best rapper because he can just rattle on and on and it's actually pretty good.

Something we don't know about coach Painter: He always has his hair done the same exact way every day. I've never seen it where it's not slicked back or gelled. We talk about maybe if we go to a Final Four we're gonna try to mess it up after a game. We know better than to do it now.

City the Boilermakers most like to visit: Anywhere tropical. Last year the Virgin Islands was an awesome experience. Next year we're going to Puerto Rico and we're talking about how fun that's gonna be.

Team needs concert tickets to: Probably Lil' Wayne, I'm pretty sure we could all mesh there.

 

Wquinton Smith, Wisconsin

MVP: Jordan Taylor. He carried us in a lot of games.

Best dunker: Keaton (Nankivil). He's quick off the ground and he's powerful. He can do some stuff, windmills and all that. He just doesn't do it in games.

Talks more than Dick Vitale: Duje Dukan and Mike Bruesewitz. They never shut up, but Mike probably more. His motor is just always running, even in games.

Meaner than Bob Knight: It's either me or Keaton. He's real powerful. I'm the strongest guy on the team and have a little mean streak.

Better shooter than Ray Allen: I'll have to go with Keaton again. He's got the best-looking shot and if you leave him open it's automatic.

The Next Barack Obama (politician): Without question it's Jordan. He can win over anybody and he can debate.

The next Bill Gates (rich, non-basketball): Brett Valentyn. He's one of the smartest guys on the team and he's in the business school. I expect big things out of him when he gets done playing.

The next Lil' Wayne (singer/rapper): Evan Anderson, he can sing pretty good to be so goofy-looking, but he's got an all right voice, just a little bit.

Something we don't know about coach Ryan: He thinks he's a comedian. Nobody really laughs at the jokes.

City the Badgers most like to visit: (Columbus). It's like a downtown kind of area and last year we went to a movie down there and it was pretty fun.

Team needs concert tickets to: Drake or Jay-Z. We like them a lot.

Best moment this season so far: Beating Ohio State when the fans rushed the floor, that was one of the best experiences we've had.